Chapter 2990: Time Divine Talisman
The Five Elements Divine Talisman had been successfully refined by Zhang Ruochen back in the Kunlun Realm.
Using five different types of divine bones, he had tempered the talisman paper, and with a seventy-sixth-order spiritual power as his brush, he had succeeded in refining this single talisman only after many failures.
Powerful Five Elements force erupted from the talisman, causing the Five Elements power within the space of this sea region to become chaotic.
"Boom, rumble!"
The gray world shadow was blasted through by the Five Elements power.
Destructive force surged straight toward the Heavenly God Priest.
A look of caution finally appeared on the Heavenly God Priest's previously indifferent face. He pointed his staff forward, breaking through the incoming Five Elements divine power. The hood on his head was blown back, and his white hair flew wildly.
Waves surged skyward, rising a hundred zhang high.
Some seawater splashed onto Luo Jinshu's face, jolting him awake. He stopped activating the forbidden art of self-detonating his divine source and exclaimed joyfully, "Fellow Daoist, help me hold off the Heavenly God Priest!"
"Rest assured, leave him to this poor Daoist!"
Zhang Ruochen's beard and hair were disheveled, his gaze sharp, and his Daoist robe fluttered noisily. "Wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, heed my summons. Ten directions of talismans, serve my use."
"Swish, swish!"
His two wide Daoist robe sleeves bulged, and from within flew out yellow talismans one after another, turning into a rain of talismans filling the sky.
The Heavenly God Priest's heart tightened. He carefully observed Zhang Ruochen's withered face, curious as to what divine being this Daoist actually was.
Logically speaking, with spiritual power reaching such a level, he could already serve as the realm lord of a powerful realm in the Heavenly Court. His status and position would be noble. How could he be an unknown figure?
"So, it's a Talisman Heavenly Master!"
The Heavenly God Priest dared not underestimate his opponent. He gripped his staff with both hands and summoned the death qi from the surroundings.
Death qi was everywhere, and naturally, the Great Beginning Civilization World also had it.
As death qi gathered, a ten-thousand-zhang-tall Death God shadow condensed. Within the shadow, black veins intertwined, resembling the blood vessels of the Death God.
This Death God shadow was extremely solid. Its pupils were like two heavy, dark stars, its aura grim and chilling, frantically devouring the life qi emitted by the Divine Toon Tree.
"Bang, bang!"
The yellow talismans, like raindrops, landed on the Death God shadow, transforming into hundred-zhang-long wind blades, bowl-thick lightning bolts, and raindrops as sharp as swords and blades.
There were simply too many talismans—endless—beating the Death God shadow apart repeatedly.
The Heavenly God Priest's face grew increasingly dark. "Damn it, just how many talismans have you refined?"
"Enough to kill you," Zhang Ruochen said.
To cultivate the talisman path, he had refined a massive number of talismans. The vast majority of these talismans were of average power and posed no threat to gods. Moreover, some talismans were actually failed products.
But the sheer quantity was overwhelming!
Of course, Zhang Ruochen had not deliberately cultivated the talisman path. In truth, he had also studied the formation path, the beast-taming path, the corpse-driving secret art, the ghost-raising secret art, alchemy, artifact refining...
He pursued all these solely to comprehend the laws of heaven and earth and the principles of nature.
The ultimate goal was to cultivate the Wuji Divine Dao and derive Yin and Yang, the Two Forms.
There was no helping it—who could blame him for having cultivated the perfect first-rank Sacred Intent? From then on, all methods in the world could be easily mastered.
Although his current attainments in the talisman path were already very high, to the point where he could even refine divine talismans, his mastery of the formation path was actually even greater.
But he couldn't appear too monstrous; he had to keep a low profile.
He would only use the talisman path in battle.
Among the Death Clan soldiers were some familiar faces Zhang Ruochen had met in the Hell Realm—for instance, Yuan Fei Great Saint and Huomei Yinji, whom he had seen on the Heaven Hunting Battlefield.
They gazed at the two spiritual power gods clashing in the distance, utterly shocked, like mortals watching immortals fight.
Huomei Yinji stared intently and exclaimed in awe, "Even the Heavenly God Priest is being suppressed. That unremarkable-looking Daoist is truly formidable."
"Suddenly having a god with such terrifying talisman path attainments appear is ominous. I hope nothing unexpected happens," Yuan Fei Great Saint said with some concern.
...
"Now!"
Luo Jinshu seized the opportunity. Divine qi from within his body poured continuously into the Eon Thunderwood Staff. He struck with all his might, slamming it onto the altar beneath the Heavenly God Priest.
"Boom!"
The altar shattered and sank into the sea.
The sea surface within a hundred li radius was dented by Luo Jinshu's strike, forming a large depression. Within the depression, lightning flickered incessantly, evaporating vast amounts of water vapor.
Success!
Luo Jinshu was exhilarated, his blood surging. As long as the altar was destroyed, preventing the Hell Realm's peerless war god from crossing over, there was a great chance of holding the Divine Toon Tree.
In the distance, Feng Qi and the Nine-Tailed Heart Fox, who had originally planned to retreat, were both stunned by the strength the Yellow Ox Daoist had displayed.
Feng Qi broke out in a cold sweat on his forehead. "Close call. I didn't expect this Daoist to be so powerful. Good thing we didn't make a move on the Divine Wood Warship."
"This Daoist is indeed very strong. I wonder how he compares to the Qiu Yu Divine Lord in combat power?" the Nine-Tailed Heart Fox said.
Feng Qi sneered coldly. "The Qiu Yu Divine Lord is no ordinary figure. With his combat power, even against a Taiyi realm early-stage Great God, he wouldn't lose. From a certain distance, he could kill this Daoist in one strike. Talisman Heavenly Masters always have weak physical bodies."
"Junior Brother Jinshu, I'll help you guard the Divine Toon Tree and slay all these Hell fiends!"
Feng Qi spread his phoenix wings, carrying a blazing cloud of divine fire, and flew toward the Death Clan army.
Since the Yellow Ox Daoist was taking the lead, drawing the Death Clan strongmen's attention, the Nine-Tailed Heart Fox also lost her fear and followed closely behind Feng Qi.
Seeing the altar destroyed, the Heavenly God Priest burned with rage.
The moment his mental state wavered, the Death God shadow was shattered by the talisman rain, and violent power poured down upon him.
"Boom!"
The Heavenly God Priest immediately flew backward, ignoring Zhang Ruochen, and charged toward the Array-Engraving Altar.
Because Luo Jinshu was already heading for the Array-Engraving Altar, intending to destroy it.
The Array-Engraving Altar absolutely could not be lost; otherwise, all their efforts would be in vain.
"Where do you think you're going? Your opponent is this poor Daoist."
Zhang Ruochen gave chase at full speed toward the Heavenly God Priest.
The Heavenly God Priest was frantic. Gritting his teeth, he turned back and saw that the damned Daoist had already closed to within a hundred li. Suddenly, he stopped, turned around, and said, "Do you really think you're the only one with divine talismans?"
Though reluctant, he took out a thumb-sized jade talisman and tossed it into the air.
The jade talisman blazed with light.
A powerful divine might awakened within the talisman.
The Heavenly God Priest said with murderous intent, "Taiyi Divine Talisman, Soul-Devouring Beast!"
The jade talisman exploded, and a massive shadow slowly emerged from the dazzling radiance.
The Soul-Devouring Beast was a talisman beast, shaped much like a manta ray, its size as vast as a mountain. The aura it emitted was no weaker than that of a Taiyi realm Great God.
Sensing the terrifying aura of the Soul-Devouring Beast, Feng Qi, who had flown close, regretted his decision. Who would have thought that a seventy-sixth-order spiritual power god could possess a Taiyi realm talisman beast?
Although a Taiyi realm talisman beast couldn't match a true Taiyi realm Great God in combat power,
it was still more than enough for him, an Upper-Level God, to handle!
Fortunately, the Soul-Devouring Beast's target was the Yellow Ox Daoist, which allowed Feng Qi to breathe a sigh of relief.
Zhang Ruochen did not engage the Soul-Devouring Beast head-on. Instead, he unleashed his fastest speed and charged toward the area with the densest death qi.
"Trying to flee now? The Taiyi Divine Talisman is my strongest trump card. Do you think you can escape?"
The Heavenly God Priest controlled the Soul-Devouring Beast, chasing Zhang Ruochen relentlessly.
As for the Array-Engraving Altar, he noticed that the Source Heaven Lord had already rushed over, so he felt reassured.
The area with the densest death qi was where the nine Death Clan lords and a large number of Death Clan soldiers had gathered. They followed the passage opened by the cyan divine blade, breaking through layers of shattered formations, and were now very close to the Divine Toon Tree.
Three Death Clan lords took the initiative to fly out and intercept Zhang Ruochen.
The Red Soul Lord, whose cultivation had reached the Upper-Level God Great Perfection, stood in the center. His gray wings spread wide, his aura extremely fierce. He laughed, "Fellow Daoist, where do you think you're going?"
The lord on the left, an Upper-Level God mid-stage, snorted coldly, "Courting death."
None of the gods sent to cut down the Divine Toon Tree were weak.
The lord on the right, also an Upper-Level God mid-stage, said in a strange tone, "He probably wants to lure the Soul-Devouring Beast to deal with us, but that's too naive. The Heavenly God Priest is controlling the Soul-Devouring Beast!"
Zhang Ruochen had actually tried to control the Soul-Devouring Beast using beast-taming secret arts and talisman techniques, but all attempts had failed.
The main reason was that the Heavenly God Priest's spiritual power was too strong—no weaker than his own. With both sides having equal spiritual power, seizing control of the opponent's talisman beast was simply impossible.
Zhang Ruochen stopped, as if truly cornered, a panicked expression appearing on his face.
"Walking right into the trap."
"Make your move. At this distance, killing a talisman-path spiritual power cultivator shouldn't be difficult. Remember to guard your divine soul and spirit."
The Red Soul Lord said this and charged at Zhang Ruochen first. The gray wings on his back emitted a bright deathly radiance, corroding even space into blackness.
In the Red Soul Lord's view, to kill a spiritual power god, the closer you got, the easier it was.
But as he actually closed in, a strong sense of unease surged within him. A voice in his heart warned him: "Danger!"
"Fall back!"
The Red Soul Lord roared.
Zhang Ruochen curled his lips into a smile. "Too late!"
A three-inch-long white talisman flew out from behind him and hovered above his head.
"Time Divine Talisman, Passage of Years."
Zhang Ruochen looked toward the Divine Toon Tree. "Senior Divine Toon, help me slay the enemy!"
The trunk of the Divine Toon Tree swayed gently, producing a rustling sound, and yellow leaves fell like rain.
Beneath the Divine Toon Tree, a large number of time imprint light points had already gathered. The seasonal changes of spring, summer, autumn, and winter were completely different here from the outside world, with time energy being highly active.
At this moment, these time imprint light points flew continuously into the Time Divine Talisman above Zhang Ruochen's head.
"Whoosh!"
The Time Divine Talisman exploded, transforming into rings of light patterns that struck the three Death Clan lords and the Soul-Devouring Beast behind them.
The three Death Clan lords retreated at full speed and activated their Divine Realm Worlds to block the attack, but they still couldn't withstand the power of time. Their lifespans drained rapidly, and their hair gradually turned white.
The Soul-Devouring Beast, being merely a talisman beast, could not sustain itself for long anyway. After being struck by the time power, it dissipated into wisps of talisman light in an instant.